"So we got screwed over again because the people upstairs are penny pinchers? Nothing new there."

I CALLED THIS

IN THE FIRST

FUCKING

CHAPTER

>>op delivers

The starscape fades, replaced by a blazing battlefield of warships, one side angled, technological, and pure, the other nightmarish, gothic, and corrupted.

"But... getting to the meat of the matter... you would do well to remember... the Transpace Guard is not the only game in town, as they say," he smiles. "Though the Event itself is rather... simple... you will find cleaning it up may not be. Doors have been opened. Prissssoners have been set free.

The battlefield fades to a view of a vast system of machines in deep space. They pulse with power and energy flows through them in a great grid, encasing a gigantic sphere of reality. Then... the flow stops, the power ceases, and one by one the machines explode to fragments.

"Assss I told one of my... employees a while ago... You had better prepare for unforeseen consequences."

Then the images vanish as space snaps back to normalcy. You are back on the Storm's bridge, having just completed the jump back to base.

Last thread: http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/16729747/

A communication officers contacts you.

"Welcome back, Storm! How goes the mission?"

You currently have Mouse in a containment field, as he has shown to have been infected by Sandman nanites. Spike, the Aurors and the Delta Green team have been exposed and are under quarantine.

YOU HAVE
1 TGS Cruiser with Sensor and Weapons upgrades, The Oncoming Storm.
1 Victory-II Star Destroyer, the Relentless
1 Defiant-class Starship, the Indefatigable.
3 allied Orz Nemeses

Aboard the Victory-II you have 1 squadron of VF-25s, and 1 squadon of TIE-Defenders, as well as 1 Gunstar and a team of six Tomahawk Destroids.

You have enlisted the services of Spike Spiegal, Ibram Gaunt, Egon Spengler, and Gabriel Tosh.

You have the following troops, all with kinetic barriers, Shadowrun gear, and reality emitters.
1 squad of UNIT troops with Power Armor and Fallout energy weapons.
1 squad of SCP troopers with Tiberium enhanced lasers and Advanced Power Armor mk 2
1 squad of Delta Greens with Chinese Stealth Armor.
3 Mobile Infantry in Marauders
1 Auror team with prototype NOD armor and AK-47 backup weapons.
1 Emergency Medical Hologram with mobile emitter.
20 X-COM scientists.

You have 1 NOD ICBM attached to a hardpoint on the Storm, 18 nuclear warheads, and 6 Fat Mans with 30 mininukes in reserve.

>>16760409
"We are fucking fucked!
"I need Holtz on the horn, NOW! We've got a hostile nanite infection in the Inde's medbay, and we need support in clearing it out!"

Also OP, please provide links to new threads in the old ones. I didn't know the new one was up until I went looking.

>>16760409

Reply:

"HQ, we have several injured squads, who have been infected with malicious nanites. One of them is currently heavily infested and showing advanced symptoms of Sandman nanite infestation. We had to subdue him before he could cause extensive damage to our ship."

"If possible, we need personnel who know how to reverse or otherwise cure nanomachine subversion AND use of facilities that we can use to that end. Anyone from Starfleet with experience with curing Borg assimilation would be great. We may also need cleaning crews who can purge nanotech airborne contaminants, and some technology experts who can ensure that our ship's computers have not been compromised."

>>16760497
I did, though. Did the post not go through?

The comm officer doesn't waste words, immediately patching you through to Holtz.

"Holtz here," your eternally-harried commander says, looking as bad as ever. "What's going on?"

>>16760518
"Sandmen... great. I can send a cleaner team over there to scrub your ship clean and I'll have some of the base techs look over your systems. You can use our labs here, but... I'm not sure I can lay hands on those specialists. I'll try, though. I'll have the base science team assist you in the meantime."

>>16760533
"Holtz, we got problems. The Mulder Base got compromised by one of the local factions, the Etoils, and we've got a Sandman contamination on board one of our ships and need personnel and equipment to clean it out.
"But that's not the worst news. THAT'S the fact that I just got a visit from the G-Man. You know that we're not the only ones with Meta travel capability; as he put it, TG's not the only game in town.
"Apparently there's something even bigger than just some crossovers going on. He mentioned that some prisoners were set loose, and showed me a battle between some tech Canon and a Chaos battle fleet.
"Holtz, I think I got it. A crossover fanfic. But not just two, or even three Canons. Everything. A fanfic that let a Canon access the Meta."

>>16760593
The air hisses between Holtz's teeth as he slowly lets out a breath under pressure. Several veins noticeably bulge in his forehead and his eyes start to twitch.

"Yes. That's quite a pickle. Will you excuse me for a minute?"

The communication cuts out for about a minute before it is restored, Holtz back at his desk looking even more rumpled. His knuckles are slightly bleeding and the left wall has a few very new dents in it.

"All right. Even without your theory, a sighting of the G-Man... to US no less... is not a trivial thing. I'm going to have to talk with my superiors. I look forward to the inevitable screaming and cursing. Anything else to report?"

>>16760679
"Besides the compromising of one of our bases by a Canon native, and the G-Man, nothing right now.
"If we can get nanite scrubbers and specialists, we might still be able to save the people at Mulder base. But they don't have much time left."

>>16760715
"I'll see what I can do. For now I'll send some containment units over to you so you can ship over your quarantined people to our labs. Have your science team met mine there. I'll have some others go through the archives and see if we know anything useful about the nanite infection..." Holtz grits his teeth. "But MOST of that information would've been at the branch office..."

>>16760757
"You got it, Holtz."
Send Egon and the X-COM Scientists, as well as the EMH, to meet with Holtz's men.

>>16760239
I suppose this means that Gordon Freeman is definitely off of our list of possible Heroes.

Alright, so, we're going to try to get our people decontaminated, and hopefully our scientists, working with the HQ's labs and personnel, can come up with a way to destroy the nanites and restore a person from Sandman infection.

Aside from trying to free the people at Mulder base, what should be our next objective?
The G-Man said we're not the only Meta organization; perhaps we should try to see if we can contact the TSAB?

Transferring the contaminated personnel to the base and meeting up with the base's science team, it's still three hours before you hear back from Egon.

"Between our analysis and the archives, we're coming to understand a lot about the Sandmen nanites. First off, you were correct in your assessment of a faster acting strain. This new version of improved nanites converts a human in about half the time, with the programmed loyalty being the first change that occurs directly after the infection manages to firmly take root. Similarities exist between this strain and the Borg nanites, and it is our belief the Sandmen used the data of the base's computers to reverse engineer improvements to their nanites based on that. That being said, the new strain is not perfect. Like the older strain, it has a chance, albeit slim, of being destroyed by the body's natural defenses before it gains a solid enough foothold. Mr. Spiegal for example, managed to reject the nanites, and is on his way to recovery. However, this is notably rare still, as he is the only one to have managed this feat so far. Detection of the Sandmen is easy enough. Simply check the hair for a metallic sheen. We're still working on a cure for now."

Egon pauses. "One thing you should know... Once a Sandman dies, the nanites devour the body rapidly, consuming it whole and leaving nothing but dust behind within ten seconds. In addition, a fully converted Sandman is immune to all toxins and poisons, rendering stun gas or tranq darts useless. I believe this is why the EMH's shot did nothing."

>>16761134
"Disheartening news, Dr. Spengler.
"But...if they used Borg nanite technology to improve their own, could they have also opened themselves to the weaknesses that the Borg nanoprobes have? Perhaps some of the files on Federation Borg reclamation procedures can help."

rolled 5 = 5

>>16761175
"A possibility. I'll begin looking into that."

You know, you would be suprised at how much Meta fanfiction there is out there.

>Also, G man is supposedly a timelord

First off, yeah research and see if the Borg-inspired modifications gave the Sandman nanites a weakness to exploit.

If total removal is impossible, can they be reprogrammed to let Mouse and any other infected keep his own mind and shit? Because if they can retain control over himself and they be rendered non-infectious then Mouse and the other infected just got a serious upgrade. Nanomachines in the body can do all sorts of crazy shit depending on how advanced they are, and if nothing else them being immune to toxins and poisons would help improve his survivability.

Also, this is the Nanoha TSAB we're talking about, yes? If so, why do we not have connections to them already? Nanoha magitech would be an upgrade for the Aurors, and Egon might even be able to rig up some Cartridge-using devices for the mundanes and magically-inclined people we find/pick up/recruit.

>>16761265
Apparently them and the Guard don't get along well. Holtz at least seems to think of them as dickish and overly bureaucratic. Though now that the G-Man has warned us we really ought to set up a unified effort against this thing, since apparently we have Void Engineers and Chaos at open war with each other outside their respective canons.

>>16761329
Also, ships somehow encasing a reality in a grid, and being destroyed.
I don't recognise what canon that is from, but whatever those ships were holding is likely to start wrecking our faces.

I hope we can save the Aurors and the Delta Greens. Mouse ... is likely already gone. :[

rolled 89 = 89

A few more hours pass before Egon reports in again.

"We've run a series of tests and have determined that though the nanites have derived a number of improvements from Borg nanites, they still operate in a fundamentally different way. While the Borg nanites act quickly to construct a neural transceiver that allows the Collective to override the individual, the Sandmen nanites effectively change key portions of the brain itself, hard-wiring loyalty in. Neural suppressants showed some promised, but ultimately failed. That being said, there have been some cases of infection being incomplete and some Sandmen emerging with their free wills intact. I am looking into that now."

>>16761766
An hour later, Egon contacts you again, in the same emotionless monotone he always uses.

"I have fantastic news. We've managed to save the Delta Greens by injecting them with a large amount of immune system boosters. We had done this a few minutes after they had arrived, but the treatment didn't show any result until now. Apparently it just took time for their bodies to gather up and reject the remaining nanites."

Egon pauses. "However... I am not too optimistic about using this method on anyone but the recently infected. Still, we are trying it on the Aurors and Mr. Thompson."

wait... will the FEM do anything against the nanites?
I've had this crazy idea of getting anyone who's permanently infected a dose of FEM, then locking them using reality emitters. Hopefully when the FEM gets out of the system, the nanites will too.

Otherwise we must find a time-reversing thingamajigger what restores someone at an exact point in time.

>>16761811
...well this sucks. And there's not much we can do but wait for results. I think once we learn if the Aurors and Mouse can be saved or not, we have to move back to Mulder Tower and effect a hostile take over.

It's highly likely that Mouse's nanites were able to communicate with the other Sandmen once we let on that we knew what was up and that they'll be waiting for us. We need to go in loaded for bear, full NBC seals and with the highest priority over-ride codes Holtz can give us. If we can control the base or even just shut it down, it'll make things a lot easier.

>>16761934
"Utilization of the F.E.M. may have unpredictable effects and I do not believe it will aid the patient's recovery. I will investigate it all the same."

Two more hours pass and Egon reports back in yet again, his face grim.

"We've discovered a way to interrupt the process of Sandman transformation, but it's only effective within the first six hours of infection. There are several further routes we can take to research a cure, but they will take a long time, weeks, if not months to bear fruit."

Egon pauses. "Also, even if cured, it is unlikely the Aurors will be able to wield magic again. The Sandman nanites rewrite the victim's DNA, and magical ability for the Aurors is genetic. The nanites of course, saw the gene as outside their template, assumed it to be damaged, and 'repaired' it."

>>16762005
Alright. The Aurors are out of the fight and Mouse is doomed. So let's not make their sacrifices worthless.

Call up Holtz and get as much information on the Mulder Building as we can, blueprints, override codes, armaments, everything. If worse comes to worse we can always stage some sort of 'gas leak' and blow it to kingdom come, but I'd rather capture the base mostly intact.

>>16762043
What about Spike? Do we know how he's doing?

>>16762043
Holtz supplies you with floor plans, blue prints, override codes, and system specs.

>>16762078
Spike has fully recovered thanks to his extremely strong immune system and a lot of luck.

>>16762094
I'll be damned if I'm very good at planning assaults, but I'll give it a shot. If we can remotely disable the teleport jammer we split our forces into two groups, one of which beams down into the control room while the other secures the power generators. From there we'd have control of all the base interior cameras and defenses and we can stop the Sandmen from shutting down the power to cripple that advantage.

From our two strongpoints we'd identify where the largest clusters of Sandmen are and beam grenades and EMP explosives amongst them. Hopefully taking out most of the converted personnel, we can then seek and destroy the remainder.

Along with suiting everyone up in sealed power armor, I'd request a team of Orz marines to stand by in the Indefagitable as emergency reinforcements/additional explosives. If we run into too hard of a nut to crack, I suspect the Orz would be quite happy to show the Sandmen a little *dance*.

At this point I will adjourn for the evening and let you gentlemen plan things out. See you tomorrow.

>>16762203
I just read some of the Dark Matter book and I'm just going to add some additional thoughts for consideration next time this picks up.

According to the book, submersion in water is quite effective in disabling Sandmen. If we can seal up the building, lock open the inner doors, and flood the place, we would likely be able to neutralize the bastards quite easily. Most of the equipment would be ruined, but eh. The base is comprimised anyway.

Additionally we could always contact the Greys and ask them for help. They seem to care about humanity and are enemies of the Sandmen. We'd have to reveal our higher technological state to them but that should also make them want the Mulder Building around even less. And if anyone would know how to return a Sandman to normal, it might be the biologists of the Greys.

>>16762203
The Orz might be too dangerous to use in a confined space like this. If they got out into the streets it could play havoc with canon. I say they're a last resort only.

About the flooding idea, it might work if we activate the bases own containment fields over all the doors and windows. TG are sure to have pretty airtight seals. Are any of our troops submersible? Shit, the aurors could have bubbleheaded everyone and sorted that in minutes. Oh well.

>>16762005
Wait a minute, we still should have the Aurors' undamaged DNA records in the Indefatigable's transporter pattern buffers. We can use them as a sort of fast gene-therapy tank and restore the magic gene to them.
So we should be able to restore the Aurors, but they will likely have to sit this fight out. The same with Mouse.

Another idea is to use another set of nanites, perhaps reprogrammed Borg nanoprobes or nanites from another advanced Canon, and inject them into the Aurors and Mouse, programmed to seek out and destroy the Sandman nanites while at the same time programmed with the Aurors' original DNA in order to restore the magic gene.

We need to have Egon check into these two avenues of inquiry.

>>16763419

Federation transporters love to dick you over in improbable ways. I'd be reluctant to use them in an unconventional fashion.

However, nanites to genetically repair our men would be a good idea. If we can't afford them at our next upgrade, then maybe we can trade something in for them.

Also, I move that our next hero should be the G-man, so we can force him to explain his shit.

>>Brotherhood ingsco

According to captcha, we're going to be visiting a 1984 universe next.

So can we recruit from BLAME! ?

They've got shitloads of advanced hardware and nanotech understanding.

And guns that shoot blackholes.

>>16762005
>>16761003
>>16761766

Re-wiring the brain, eh? The Aurors weren't completely converted or in the advanced stages yet. Perhaps the earlier suggestion of using benevolent borg nanomachines might cure them while restoring their ability to use magic. If we have Mouse's DNA in there also, we might be able to use those nanomachines to counter the Sandman brain altering effects.

If not, the Sandman's influence sounds less like a Borg drone assimilation and more like a Cyberman conversion. If the control methods are similar, perhaps Egon and the other scientists working with him would have more luck if they looked into countering conversion.

>>16764089

Just to clarify the logic behind this, Tosh mentioned that he felt that the Sandman-converted personnel felt like they had "Aggression checked by willpowa' an' cold logic". This sounds like emotional inhibition.

Also, Cyberman conversion ensures that a Cyberman will continue doing Cyberman things LONG after it has lost contact with the Cyber-leader. They must be doing something to the brain during the conversion process to ensure that no Cyberman goes rogue.

>>16764030
We could try to recruit from an anime world, but keep in mind the limitations of our budget (which the G-Man pointed out as one of the things that's keeping TG from being considered one of the Big Boys of the Meta).

>>16763710
>>16764089
>>16763419
Okay, so we've got some ideas to bounce off of Egon and the X-COM scientists.
Are we going to try to subdue and restore the TG personnel back at Mulder base, or are we going to consider them lost?

>>16764383

If reversing the Sandman conversion is something that'll take a very, very long time to do, then we may have to shut down the base.

But if Egon or any other specialists we call in can work up a way to neutralize the nanites or their hold over our troops, then we can probably launch a wide-scale rescue operation.

>>16764089

If we can't rig up a way to have the nanomachines repair the Aurors' DNA so they can use magic again, we could try recruiting from other canons who have more experience in such matters.

Possible specialists on gene manipulation for consideration:

1.) Rapture scientists from the Bioshock canon. We're all familiar on the wondrous and horrible things they can cook up. If we need people who can science into genetic manipulation, these guys would be worth looking into.

2.) Rebel Lifecrafters from the Geneforge canon. While not as refined as their Shaper counterparts, they've been able to magically manipulate genetic material and understand/catalog how their meddling affects the DNA of whatever they're working on. Like the Rapture scientists, they've also got genetic manipulation down to a form where they can literally plug in genes like Lego blocks to get a desired effect

>>16761265
Nahona verse TSAb don't like guns. Or any non-magic weapons, for that matter. The most certainly would try to have us get rid of our nukes if they decided to work with us.
http://nanoha.wikia.com/wiki/Mass_weapon

>>16765090
Both are good suggestions for specialists from the bio-tech angle on restoring the Aurors.
Also could be helpful when we have to go up against Chaos, and we need to reverse mutations caused by Chaos dickery.

For the nanotech angle:
1. as mentioned already, Star Trek Borg recovery specialists.
2. Doctors from Anarchy Online; the setting has nanites doing everything, and so they might be able to help.

3. Gary Savage from Deus Ex was mentioned as a possible specialist who might be able to help.

>>16762203
As for EMP devices, may I suggest multiple Explosively Pumped Flux Compression Generator? They exist IRL and as such should not be hindered by reality generators.
>pic related

>>16762203
>>16762555
>>16762700
>>16765272
We can't disable the interdiction field generators remotely, since we can't trust the comm array at the base. Remember that Mouse, while fully infected, was working on it. It's probably booby-trapped to hack into the Storm's computers when we attempted a data uplink in order to control the interdiction field.

We'll have to beam down outside the field's area of effect and enter the building through conventional means.
We might be able to spoof an FBI or Homeland Security raid on a suspected terrorist hideout to keep the locals from interfering.

Also, the Orz stay in orbit; they're known to go off on their own when fighting, and I don't want to have to explain the incident that the Orz would cause when they decided they wanted to *taste the sauce* of the native population.

The problem with using any EMP weapons is that it will knock out the door controls, containment fields, and lift access controls in the entire base. Not only that, but what if we lose containment with the base's reactor?
I think we'll have to make do with lots of water.

Using the floor plans provided by Holtz, we can plan out a route to the interdiction field generator controls. Once we secure the generator controls and shut it down, we can have the Indefatigable begin tranporting infected personnel out of the base and into specialized containment tanks on the Oncoming Storm. The tanks to be filled with water in order to help in subduing the infected, and with force fields around them to prevent escape.
Maybe get some transporter beacon darts to shoot at infected personnel with. That will make targeting and beaming up anyone tagged much faster.

>>16760593
Holy Shit. I think... I think I just found THE fanfic that caused this shitstorm. "Undocumented Features"

>>16765679
In addition, there must be an Etoile controlling them somewhere, probably in the base itself.
It will need to be found, and terminated with extreme prejudice.
Reality Emitters will be unlikely to have any effect, so we'll need to be careful. They'll likely have more of those neuro-toxin/nanite aerosol grenades.

>>16765679
There are multiple types of EPFCG that are available. The most appropriate type is the MK.II, which emits a cone of electromagnetism. The MK.II coverts aprox. 20% of explosive energy to magnetic energy. The difference between this and the previous type are similar to the difference between a grenade and a shaped charge explosive device.

>>16766042
>Generator IRL

>CAPTCHA: [INVZOO] readcrime

>>16766042
But still, there is a significant difference between something meant for lab use, and an EMP infantry weapon that can be deployed and is safe for troops to use.

>>16765679

Are you suggesting that we arm some of our troops with water cannons filled with anti-Sandman/Etiole nanites (if we can successfully research such a thing)?

>>16766170
If such a thing can be researched, yes.
And if not, then we bring down the interdiction field and beam them into containment tanks.

There's also the fact that Egon has his slime pack; we could hose down the infected personnel with psychokinetically reactive slime.

We should at least wait until something can be done about the Aurors and Mouse. Heck, we could check out another base/canon while we wait for the nanotech specialists to arrive.

I say we have our guys beam down with a photon torpedo in a wheelbarrow. Roll it into the base, set it to blow, run out of the building, beam them up.

>>16766566
We'll keep that as a last resort.
We need to try to save our personnel, and to recover the resources that this base represents.
We also need to find the Etoile responsible for this, and terminate them with extreme prejudice.

>>16767065

If flooding the base with water becomes a good option, we could possibly have the science guys cook up some oxygenated water for liquid breathing.

That way, Sandmen get short-circuited while not drowning.

>>16765698
Perhaps, but I'm placing my bets on the Open Door.

>>16766516
Maybe we can finally investigate why we lost contact with the TSAB, like just as a side mission?
I mean an ally that annoys you is much better than no ally at all.

I think the lesson we need to take away from this is that we need to go out of our way to familiarize ourselves with as many aspects of the Canon we're investigating as possible.
Like the shiny hair -was- prominently mentioned.

>>16767403
Good point, and while we're at it I have a question
"Hey Holtz, besides the TSAB are there any other organizations like us at all? Because from what the G-Man said I think we're going to need all the help we can get."

>>16767466
I'm pretty sure the movie 'The One' has multiversal police.

>>16767514
Also, and you're -really- not going to like this, there's the Zone Cops, originating from the No Zone/Perpendicular Zone.

>>16767466
>>16767403
While I agree that we may need assistance in this endeavor, we should still go about it in a calm, professional manner. We aren't some band of adventurers gallivanting across the Metaverse, we're a professional organization dedicated to maintaining the integrity of Canon timelines.

Of course, the G-Man had a point; we have to take an honest re-assessment of our policies, procedures, and worldview.

>>16767450
I have to agree. We were okay with the Shadowrun and Fallout worlds because most of us are well acquainted with those settings.
We weren't with the Dark Matter setting, and our men paid for our ignorance.

>>16767615
True, but the TSAB could serve as an ally not just for us, but for the other teams of Editors that are presumably out there as well.
Hell, there's even a chance that they might have valuable information about just what it is we're dealing with.

>>16767514
>>16767526
Don't forget that The Doctor is probably around somewhere. More than likely, The Doctors.
>Pic is NOT what we want to see

Then there's the Hyper-Athenians and the Closers from the Timeline Wars (we should try to get some of their neural flechettes and Seeking Hypersonic Kinetic Kill weapons).

There's the Paratime Police from the Paratime series.

>>16767766
Oh yes, I'm not suggesting that we NOT ally with them.
I'm just saying that when we do, we act with professional courtesy.

>>16767466
"Yeah, but our sector hasn't had contact with many of them save for the TSAB. I'd be surprised if some of them weren't keeping an eye on things, though. I'll have someone prepare a report for you when you get back from the clean up."

So have you decided on a plan? The water thing?

>>16767826
Sounds good but is it possible to hyper-oxygenate said water as well?

>>16767826
I think that the agreed plan is that we beam down fully suited and with the nanite countermeasures prepared by Egon and the X-COM scientists in case any of our guys get infected.

Here's my version of the plan:
We go in (MI, SCP, UNIT, Delta Green, Tosh, Gaunt with some kind of environmental mask) and we try to bust through to the interdiction field generator controls, or the generator itself, and shut it down.
We use that opportunity to lock on to every infected Sandman and beam them up into prepared and force-field protected tanks of water in the hangars of the Storm.

Some people want to flood the building with water, but I say why bother, when we can just beam the Sandmen into water instead.

Guys, if we just had an encounter with the G-Man, does that mean that a meeting with Dr. Freeman can't be too far behind?
Are we going to come into conflict with the Combine?
Is the G-Man head-hunting us from the TG?

>>16768004
...Yeah that works.

>>16768004
If we're going with this plan, we need to get special containment tanks set up while we're still here at HQ and can take advantage of their personnel and equipment.
I want tanks of water, with force-field reinforcement. Preferably with a Federation Level 10 force field.
Have Egon and the scientists go over it to make sure that the containment fields will be able to hold the Sandmen.

As for ground troops, we should see if Holtz can get us those transport beacon darts from Star Trek: Insurrection. That will let the Inde lock on even through interference.
Also, any non-lethal stun energy weapons. Toxins and chemicals won't work, but disruptive electrical energy might still prove effective.

>>16768307

As for the Sandman preventative vaccine/cure, does it actually need to be administered while the victim is under the effects of the nanites? Or can it be applied beforehand to confer a resistance or immunity to the nanites?

Hm. Once this situation is taken care of perhaps we could recruit assistance from a Galcanic Mechamorph, or perhaps Sari Sumdac, or some other sort of technopath?
Like even if the Sandmen can't be cured, perhaps it is possible to restore their original personalities?

>>16768386
An interesting idea. However, we'd still need to get around their brains being hardwired to loyalty to the Etoile and the Sandmen.

>>16768367
The immuno-boosters can be administered beforehand to give a large resistance bonus, though not immunity.

>>16768599
If they are applied afterwards, does that present a greater chance of success than if the immuno-boosters are taken beforehand?

Hey, dosen't startrek style transporters kill the original copy of the person? Okay, you walk up on this platform. The machine breaks your body down, changes it to energy and sends this signal somewhere, where it is reconstituted into a replica of your body.
Wouldn't you be dead as a result of this? There is a copy of you walking around, thinking it's you, having your memories and so forth, but the original person was killed by the first transporter effect.

If you believe in any sort of soul or individual spirit, what you see here is a manmade replica of a person stepping down from the transporter. Even if you're a materialist, your real consciousness was exterminated and a copy substituted.

With enough SCIENCE! would it be possible to make clones using a teleporter or replicator or a combination thereof?

>>16768652
It could be that the person's soul immediately reincarnates... as the newly created body.
In fact, let's go with that.

>>16768623
Not particularly, it's that afterward Egon's therapy just involves pumping you full of the stuff until the nanites are taken out, using as much as needed. Taking them beforehand means you get a shot instead of an IV.

>>16768307
Continued immersion in water will eventually kill the Sandman from short circuiting just so you know.

>>16768715
>Taking them beforehand means you get a shot instead of an IV.
Okay, well, no reason to not take a shot beforehand, then.
Everyone gets immuno-booster shots!

>Continued immersion in water will eventually kill the Sandman from short circuiting just so you know.
Problematic. Can they be contained within a forcefield, then, until they can be transported back to Sector HQ and attempted de-programming?

>>16768738
"You know, to make this easier, I have a suggestion," Holtz says, drumming his fingertips on his desk. "I can have my techs upgrade the Storm with a containment bay. Should only take a few hours given how modular it all is. It'll count towards your funding though."

>>16768801
Sounds good, it seems like the kind of thing that we would have gotten sooner or later anyway.

>>16768801
"Sure. With the kind of shit we're going to be stepping into, we'll probably need it any.
"Guess we'll just have to do more work to make up for the shortfall, eh?"

The base technicians begin attaching the containment bay modules to the Storm.

>>16768004
Keep in mind, the transporter will can only lock onto five at a time.

Egon and the X-COM scientists begin returning to the ship, carrying a supply of immuno-boosters.

"Are you all set?" Holtz asks.

>>16768973
"A few last things.
"You got any Federation Phasers, or neural flechette guns from Hyper-Athens, Goa'uld zat guns, or, hell, just some tazers and shotguns with rubber bullets? There's still a chance to save our people back there, and I want to avoid killing them if I can."

>>16769009
If necessary can we trade in some of our existing equipment to lessen the cost?

...Actually would traditional stun weaponry work on the Sandmen, if they're not even organic anymore?

>>16769190
>Actually would traditional stun weaponry work on the Sandmen, if they're not even organic anymore?
You know, I kind of assumed energy stun weapons still worked, but that's a dangerous assumption to make.
Good catch.

Let's ask Egon and the scientists first, see if phasers and other energy stun weapons would work on Sandmen or not.

>>16769190

We may need to assume that they're robots more than people now.

Assuming the TG staff at the Mulder building were infected the moment their communications array went offline, it's been about three weeks or so since they were initially infected; they are, at the very least, in the advanced stages of Sandman transformation. They may be less people and more like fleshy Terminators at this point. In that case, beanbag ammo and tasers may be completely ineffective and only handicap our operation.

We may need to prioritize who we beam up and who we dump superheated plasma on.

>>16769240
"In actuality, the new composition of the Sandmen makes them slightly more vulnerable to electrical and energy damage," Egon reports, adjusting his glasses. "Phasers and stun blasters may actually work."

"It breaks funding regulations, but tell you what. Hand over two of your nuclear warheads and I'll make a few deals to get you enough blasters to equip four squads," Holtz offers.

>>16769353
...I don't see anything wrong with that. Given the weaponry we already have on our ships, we're more likely to need to take people alive again than need to use a nuke.

>>16769372
Actually... what affect would our Star Destroyer's Ion weaponry have on a Sandmen? That's what they use to disable machines right?
Like would it deal irreparable damage?
Because we might be able to combine orbital bombardment with not killing anyone.

>>16769353
"Done and done."

Are we getting phasers, or some Canon's stunners? Can we pay an extra nuke to get phasers or zats?

>>16769393
Given the pure amount of electrical energy that capital-ship grade ion weapons put out, I think it'll still be lethal.

>>16769415
"A280 blasters work for you? I guess I can swing some phasers for another squad for another nuke."

>>16769422
Correct.

>>16769372
So the plan is to attack the facility, disable the shields, and beam everyone up five by five?
Sounds good, but we should probably have additional forces on standby to look out for some unknown faction to come out of the woodwork.

>>16769443
I'm fine with that, but you should probably wait for other opinions because I guess I never understood why we had nukes in the first place, given the sheer offensive potential of our ships.

>>16769443
The A280 blasters from Star Wars, right?
Not bad, good armor piercing capabilities.
But the phasers have a much wider range of utility, since they go from stun to disintegrate.

I think we should shell out for the phasers.

>>16769586
Another nuke is paid and another 2 squad's worth of phasers arrive.

"All set now?"

>>16769443
>>16769513
>>16769586
So that's 3 nukes for enough A280 blasters (with variable settings) to equip 4 squads, and 1 set of phasers (Federation, 25th Century) to equip 1 squad.
Let's try to get Holtz to make them phaser rifles (better range and accuracy) than just regular hand phasers.

>>16769863
"Yeah, as soon as your engineers finish putting together the contaiment bay, we'll be on our way."

Did we get hand phasers, or phaser rifles?

>>16769863
Oh, and while we're waiting for the upgrade to the Storm to finish, can we get some of the base engineers and scientists to mount the phasers on the MI's Marauder suits, a phaser to each forearm, and firing controls tied into the suit? Otherwise, I doubt that they could fit their power armored gloves onto the triggers.

>>16769922
Actually, MIs can indeed wield hand weapons, it is noted in the book they do so.

And you got phaser rifles.

Oh, and the containment bay is ready.

>>16770084
It's been so long since I read the book. I remember Rico saying that you could hold an egg as easily as you could crush a skull; I didn't remember the part about how big the gloves of the suits are.

Okay, we've got an hour to get the troops familiarized with the equipment, and then we go and take back our base.

>>16770105
Is everyone familiarized with our weapons and the plan?
I assume that Tosh and Gaunt have already gone over the floor plans and made a plan on how to breach the building and get to the interdiction field generator controls, right?

Also, loadout:
SCP: Phasers
UNIT: A280
Delta Green: A280
MI: Phasers
Tosh + Gaunt: Phasers (since there's only 3 Marauders, we should be able to share 1 full squad's worth of phasers between the MI and the Heros)

Also, is Spike ready to fight, or is he still out of it?

>>16770239
Spike seems to have made a full recovery, but Egon wants to keep him under observation for a while just to be safe.

Egon wants to know if you want him with his slime pack to deploy.

>>16770279

I think Egon might be better off staying at HQ and working on a possible cure /// Nanite reversal method for the Aurors and Mouse.

Although, having some of that slime might come in handy in case we need a wild card.

>>16770279
You know what, let's have Egon test the slime out on Mouse. Might as well see if it'll be of any use at all.
Though if it proves to be underwhelming, I think he and the scientists should stay here at base and work on a cure, following these two lines of inquiry: >>16763419

>>16770352
It seems to be somewhat effective, but the stun blasters and phasers work better.

>>16770500
As much as I would like to take Egon along for his tech expertise, we need him working on finding a cure/treatment for the Aurors and Mouse.

We'll just have to make do with the regular grunt-level hackers in the SCP team.

I think we're ready to go. Everyone else agree?

To quote form the startrek wiki:
Biofilters were uniformly used on all Federation transporters by the 24th century. These filters functioned to decontaminate transported objects and prevent harmful substances, pathogens, and even certain forms of radiation (including theta radiation), from contaminating the rest of the ship. This process replaced earlier systems that required the subject to be fully rematerialized on the transport platform before applying an energy-based process to topically decontaminate the transportee.

>>16770554
By the 23rd century, it was common practice to store a "transporter trace" (a stored copy of a subject's molecular pattern as scanned during a normal transporter cycle). While it was usually kept for security purposes, in extreme situations the transporter could be modified to use an older trace pattern in place of the latest scan for the purpose of re-configuring the matter stream during molecular conversion, effectively replacing a subject with a younger version of itself during matter re-construction. The first known use of this technique was in 2270, when it was used to restore the reverse-aged crew of the USS Enterprise to their adult versions. (TAS: "The Counter-Clock Incident") Another notable use was in 2364, to restore Captain Jean-Luc Picard after an unsuccessful attempt by an alien energy being to merge with him. (TNG: "Lonely Among Us")

The transporter trace itself would be stored for the duration of the person's tour of duty; when that person was reassigned, his or her trace would be deleted. (TNG: "Unnatural Selection")

When necessary, a person's DNA could be used to create a transporter trace. This technique was utilized by Chief Miles O'Brien and Lieutenant Geordi La Forge during a mission to the Darwin Genetic Research Station in 2365.

Transporter traces were also used as a medical tool, to help in spotting anomalies at the molecular level. When comparing the transporter ID traces of Deanna Troi, Data and Miles O'Brien before and after they were taken over by Ux-Mal criminals, Doctor Crusher was able to detect that their nervous systems were generating high levels of synaptic and anionic energy. (TNG: "Power Play") Another example of such an application was in 2373, when The Doctor used Harry Kim's transporter trace records to determine when he had been infected with Taresian DNA. (VOY: "Favorite Son")

TL;DR: We CAN use the transporters to 'fix' the aurors and Mouse

>>16770554
Sandmen nanites are made to seamlessly interweave with their host and blend in, making them extremely hard to detect unless you are specifically looking for them. This aspect enabled them to defeat the biofilter's protection and avoid any needless plot-holes resulting from a less than perfect understanding of Star Trek technology.

>>16770589
Indeed it looks like you might be able to. Egon will begin looking into using the transporter trace method to cure them immediately.

>>16770602

Those crafty Etioles!

>>16769372
AND that dear reader was why I insisted that we scrounge up some nukes from Fallout.

>>16770623
Just for the record, why was I the only one to actully look this up? And according to the wiki, you CAN make clones using the transporter method. Only reason they dont is because of their ethical baggage.

>>16770686
Also, you can download/upload someone into a hologram like the good doctor

In 2372, the patterns of Sisko, Kira, Worf, Dax, and Miles O'Brien were temporarily stored in the computer core of Deep Space 9 to prevent their patterns from degrading because of an explosion on their runabout at the time of beam-out.

Their physical patterns were integrated into a holoprogram run by Julian Bashir, and each took on one of the holographic roles in the program, while their brain patterns were spread throughout the station's computer systems. Eventually, Michael Eddington was able to restore the crewmembers back to normal by using the still-active transporters on the Defiant. (DS9: "Our Man Bashir")

Hey, OP- I am the guy who suggested that we grab as many nukes we could get our klepto hands on. Can we keep "The big One"? You wouldn't believe how many uses a dud nuke has.

>>16770855
NO! HOLTZ WANTS THAT ONE MOST OF ALL!

How he has longed for it... How he has YEARNED for its smooth, metallic casing...

Yes, of course. The trade was for usable nukes anyway. Honestly, I forgot you had the Big One once the Boomer plan was scrapped.

>>16770905
O-Kay...

Can I convert it into this since I suggested the teleporter fix and provided the last 5 posts worth of relevant info? Pretty Please?

>>16771090
...I guess you could...

Trying to come up with an interesting way to execute prisoners of war?

>>16771121
No. It shall be my steed and I shall ride it into glorious battle.
>pic related

>>16771266
I have this ominous feeling that I'm crossing some sort of threshold here...

...but sure, you can rig it with repulsorlifts or something I guess.

>>16771121
Right. So, plan:
NBC gear, stun with energy weapons on the way in. Get the teleport-restrictor offline, then forcibly teleport the base's population into the holding tanks we've prepared.
I'm fine with giving Holtz all of our (non-mini) nukes, and any old weaponry and equipment.

I'm wondering what our next choice of people and equipment should be. Should we get someone science-related to speed up the recovery of the base personnel, do we go with someone with information-gathering power, do we get protection from Psionics and other mindfuckery, or do we get more all-purpose magic to replace the (hopefully temporarily) disabled Aurors?

>>16771276
Chill out. Until the guys down in R&D get the holographic mind uploading thing working, I have no intention of pulling a Major Kong.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlSQAZEp3PA

>>16771358
No, dont give him ALL of the nukes, just the ones we have to.

Also, can we rig our guys that are going in with electrified faraday cages? Pretty simple to fit over insulated gear, and should provide bonus in offensive melee, and protection from both melee and those nanobots. Speaking of nanobots, can we rig the transporter trace up so they filter out anything we might pick up down there?

>>16771586
I think that we won't actually be using nuclear weapons, With the orbit-to-surface weaponry we have being more effective. Might as well sell what we're not using, right?

Good idea having the transporters more strictly filter out nanomachines. The transporters allowed the nanomacines up previously, but perhaps with some tweaking, they can at least slow down the nanite infestation.

A faraday cage is difficult to place on anything with lots of moving parts, and is either heavy or easily bent. Both present problems. A stun rod or stun bayonet would be useful, but an electric cage will cause more problems for the wearer than for the targets.

I intended to get to the battle tonight, but I'm already sleepy. Sorry guys, I'll be back tomorrow. Plan your imminent conquest.

>I have this ominous feeling that I'm crossing some sort of threshold here...
That's just your gaydar detecting something. It's sort of like an in-built sensor for reality distortions.

>>16771606
First off, we are not going to be using them any time soon.
Second thing, we are not 'selling' them to Holtz. He is making a special arrangement for us because of the gravity of ths situation.
Third, I pressed to collect nukes when everyone else was against putting up the effort, and I provided the locations for 12 of the nukes we currently have. We are now better off because of it.
Fourth, We will probably end up trading them for better gear sometime in the future.

As for the faraday cage, I invisioned something more like a fine wire mesh running along the outside of the insulated suits, hooked up to a battery.

>>16770554
>>16769443
Wait, if that's a problem, then why is it a big deal to get assimilated by the Borg, if there's an easily available cure?

>>16771662
Hmmm... Maybe it would be worth our while to familiarize ourselves with this setting and see what else we can steal?
...Actually we better not I guess, but we should still get as much info as we can.

>>16771662
>forgot my pic

>>16771667
because the borg now have all the information you had. Plus, I think you have to be dematerialized i.e.Dead for this to work unless you have a transporter clone. The computer basically runs defrag on your hard drive.

>>16771689
I agree that we should familiarize ourselves, and it tecnically wasnt stealing. What we did was to claim resources that we knew about, and that no canon characters knew about. We left no lasting impact on the plot, and we were etter off for it. I agree that we shouldn't be going around stealing shit that will affect the plot/ get us noticed, I strongly urge everyone to start salvage operations where we can.

>>16771727
While I see no reason why this shouldn't cure our guys, since their... everything will still be on file, what about the other Sandmen?
Like if we don't have their records, we have nothing to compare their current form against, do we?

Hey guys, I have a confession to make.
I think I might know who we're dealing with, big picture wise. Like I'd say around 75% sure, what this 'canon discovering the Meta'' is.
Would it be metagaming if I reveal it? Like this is a really enjoyable quest and I'd hate if anyone's fun was ruined, or if I made things harder on OP.

>>16771883
Most of us already have our suspicions. But since there are a few different fanfics that do this kind of damage, we still need to investigate.
Also the image shown by the G-Man could mean that The Event wasn't so much those fanfics gaining power and becoming real, so much as something failing and the containment around those fanfics failing.

>>16770686
Actually, it already was suggested several times.
>>16770352
>>16770293
>>16763419

You're the only one to pull the transporter trace article, however.

>>16771869
We'd have to find an uncontaminated full copy of their DNA.
We can check the Sector HQ personnel files to see if they have a copy. Otherwise, we could attempt looking through the Mulder base computer, or checking through everyone's rooms for hair samples (though this one is very unlikely given the amount of time they were infected).

I must say, this incredible mix of different fictional universes and the use of their assets is very confusing for one who is less versed in them like me.

I can hardly understand what and who our troops and ships are. What their specialties, strengths and weaknesses are. It was especially convoluted because I read the previous threads on my phone with images disabled and couldn't google anything on it.

I now know more or less how our heroes and equipment look like and where it comes from except:
UNIT troops - who are they exactly, what is their specialty?
Infantry troops from Marauders - same as UNIT
and Gunstar - where is it from?

Anyway, even though half of the shit that is done here is incomprehensible to me, this is a great quest!

>>16773204
UNIT - United Nations military unit from the Dr. Who settings. They've handled things like alien invasions and weird technological phenomena.
They're there as the technical specialists of our ground teams, since they have electronic warfare training and a team hacker.

MI - Mobile Infantry. They're from the original novel, Starship Troopers. Specifically, these three soldiers are in the Marauder-model of powered armor. That means that they have incredibly enhanced strength, strong armor, powerful jump jets that let's them cover large amounts of ground quickly, and have micro-nukes on the Y-racks on their backs. They're the heavy assault support for our troops.

Gunstar is from the Last Starfighter. It's an advanced and powerful starfighter design. Its weaponry allows it to take on entire battlegroups by itself, and a lone Gunstar is famed for having stopped the Ko-Dan Armada when it attempted to invade the Frontier.

>>16773280
Oh, thanks.

Now I understand this this quest a little bit more.


Oh, I wanted also to say that we missed an opportunity to recruit Courier from Fallout. S/he seemed to be a compleionist seeing how much he prepared for the battle on Hoover dam. We just needed to see is he had good or bad karma. Recruiting would be easy with the promise of great Quest to save the multi-verse, and we know how Fallout-players LOVE quests.

At least that is what I think.
Or is it impossible to recruit a hero from Canon (was that even Canon?)?

>>16773322
We can recruit Heroes from Canons, but the more important and higher-ranked in a given Canon, the less likely we can recruit them.

So, a problem with recruiting the Courier from that point of the timeline would have been that they have control of a Securitron army, and control Hoover Dam; why would they want to get busted down to working under another's orders again?

>>16773359
>why would they want to get busted down to working under another's orders again?

Adventure! Seeing new Worlds!

Really, that's all I can think of. I mean, set yourself into the mind of the average open-world RPG player. No matter how powerful, rich and influential he is, he is going to accept that Quest to clean a horse stable for that sweet, sweet exp, the notification of completed quest and the possibility that it will open more paths for more Adventure. I mean, vidya RPG heroes often take on demeaning side-missions when they are personally powerful enough to destroy entire nations.
For most of the game the Courier ran errands for others and even after the main quest-line there were DLC packs which make him do the same (I actually haven't played any of DLC so I may be wrong).

And... really, nothing else. I mean, *I* would accept if at the end of the game, where I already did everything possible suddenly an option arose where I could continue playing (with new, non-repeating content) indeterminate amount of time.
I mean, wouldn't you?

Of course, it is possible that he doesn't work good in a team but that is alright, since Courier is a one-man army who we can send on special missions alone (pr only with his own partners)

>>16773487
But that's you, and your interpretation of the Courier.
These aren't players; these are Canon characters. You can't assume that just because that's how you think they should feel, that is what they will actually be like.
Unless a video game character has a well-defined personality (such as in a JRPG), then your conception of their personality could be vastly different to the version that we meet.

>>16771358
>I'm wondering what our next choice of people and equipment should be.
We probably won't get a Ship Upgrade because of the Containment Bay Upgrade we got.
We still need better labs for our scientists and Egon, though. Also, if we're going to be fighting against Chaos ships like the G-Man implied, then we're going to want reality shielding and more powerful shields as a whole.

As for Troops, more magic or magitek might be in order. We've only got one team that can do magic, and we might need more.

>>16773528
Ah, alright. That makes sense.

...
Still, I think it would have been worth a try. Not like we lose anything.

>>16774087
>Not like we lose anything
That is patently wrong.
We could end up losing whoever we use to make contact with, like how we nearly lost Spike when someone suggested contacting the Boomers.

I wonder if Reed Richards is within our pay grade. Probably not, but if you want someone good at science, then he and his staff are the people to go to.
If not, there's always the chance of finding Aino Virta - presuming she exists.

>>16775181
While Aino's Za Warudo powers in conjunction with her grasp of advanced science would be a big help, we'd be bringing a teenage girl along.

>>16771883
>>16773026
Go ahead and speculate if you want. If you actually guess what's going on, I will be pleasantly surprised that someone managed to put all the pieces together, especially when you only have less than half the clues so far.

Getting back to the game, the Storm warps back to the Dark*Matter world orbit in short order once everything is arranged. It's the next day since you left, early morning in Chicago.

>>16775473
Alright, boys and girls, it's time to rock!

Tosh, Gaunt, and the MI go down first and secure a perimeter. Then beam down the rest of the teams (SCP, DG, UNIT).

I assume we're using the deployment from this post: >>16770239

Did Gaunt and Tosh have enough time to put together a plan and path through the base to the interdiction field controls?

rolled 63 = 63

>>16775503
Yes they did.

Tosh, Gaunt, and the M.I. beam down first, Tosh immediately cloaking and setting up an ambush position behind the building's back door. Gaunt stands near the front, while two M.I. jet up to the roofs. Another jets over to the secret escape hatch you know is present by reading the blueprints and waits there.

The citizens begin to scream and flee as they see three men in flying power armor jump around the city.

rolled 18 = 18

The remaining teams beam down and begin to storm the office. The secretary in front is easily neutralized with a stun blast, but as she goes down, panels flip open in the lobby walls to reveal sentry guns that pepper the advance team with gunfire. The slugs merely plink off of the SCP and UNIT's new powered armor, however.

>>16776001
I guess while they are pretty jaded, they're not -that- jaded.
ANON, what does this world have for the equivalent of police or national guard?

>>16776001
Monitor police radio bands in the area.

Can we scramble them, or can we tap into the police lines and say that we're the FBI working with the Army, and that we need them to stay out of the area.

rolled 5 = 5

>>16776120
You can attempt either of these.

>>16776112
It's the modern day United States.

>>16776142
>modern day United States.
Does that include the September 11 bombings and the formation of Homeland Security?
Because if so, instead of FBI and the Army, change the cover story to 'a Homeland Security investigation' before we put it out. No one really likes them, and this kind of brazen and outlandish behavior would fit in with the stereotypes that other agencies have of the organization.

>>16776163
>Copyright 1999.
I guess not. Amend my statement to 1999 U.S.A.

Actually, are the Sandmen public knowledge?
At least for certain agencies?

>>16776224
Alright, then I guess we're going with the FBI/Army investigation into stolen nerve gas. That should be scary enough to keep the locals away.

Unless people have an alternative plan?

Hey, I read the first part of this quest a little bit, but nothing else.

Could you guys pick up Guts from Berserk?

>>16776483
What does he bring to the table?
Yeah, we all know Guts, but seriously, stripped of plot armor, what does he bring to our investigation/battle group?
Also, will he WANT to come here, abandoning his friends? And finally, what about the dangers of even sending recruiters to his world?

>>16776483
He is -so- far above our pay grade.
We're probably more likely to requisition a Death Star than we are him.

>>16776525
That's also true.
Hell, if we're listing people above our paygrade:
White Team: Nanoha Takamachi, Amuro Ray, Simo Hayha

Angels Squadron: Scarface One, Nemo, Moebius One, Cypher, Solo Wing Pixie, Blaze, Edge, Archer, Swordsman, Gryphus One, Talisman One

Any one of these Heroes is far, far above our current paygrade.

Can we contact the Hoffman institute, tell them that the building has been compromised by Sandmen, and then get them to cover for us?

>>16776715
That would considered an even greater contamination of the Canon with knowledge of our existence.
Even if we were to get them to believe our anonymous tip, we'd still have to destroy the base in order to prevent them from finding out the truth.

A random question. Do other /tg/ quests exist as part of the Meta-verse?

>>16776745
Good point.
I guess the best move is to get this over with as soon as possible.
It's a shame all our aurors are out of commission, because they really would have been able to help with the damage control. Pretty sure that's one of the reasons we hired them in the first place.
Oh well, let's just proceed with our plan?

>>16776849
We need to do this fast. If we do it fast enough, we might be able to secure the base before the police even get here.

rolled 23 = 23

Your attempt at bluffing over the radio buys you a little time, but not much else. You get the distinct impression that the Mobile Infantry has drawn a lot of attention. The local police seem eager to latch onto your cover story as an excuse to stay out of something clearly beyond them, but with time, who knows what will arrive?

The sentry guns in the lobby are taken down with a minimum of fuss as your teams make a beeline to the interdiction generators on level four. A small team of Sandmen jump out from the corridors, throwing aerosol grenades and firing guns that shoot small darts. The darts plink off your teams' armor while the aerosol is filtered thanks to your suit containment. The Sandmen halt their assault soon after they begin, falling back with inhuman speed.

>>16777087
"Alright, MI, I've bought you guys some time from the locals. But if they see you, shoot to stun before they can run. We'll wipe their memory of us afterwards."

So far the plan seems to be working. Hopefully we can just turn the field generator off.

rolled 64 = 64

>>16777172
Your team progresses further into the compromised base, no opposition in sight for a long while. The assault group reaches twin doors, one you know leads to stairs down, while the other is the main service lift. A squad of Sandmen bursts from hiding in several side offices, opening fire now not with darts, but smooth looking energy weapons that fire tiny black spheres that tear apart what they touch. One of these spheres strikes an SCP troop in the forehead and his head disappears into a fountain of blood, his armored form stumbling back and collapsing. Another strikes Gaunt in the side, causing a critical wound that drops the Imperial officer to his knees. A mere centimeter to the side and it would've been fatal. As this happens, another SCP trooper falls, a sphere touching and ripping off his left arm before causing the limb to turn into not much more than a spray of blood and microscopic flesh bits.

>>16777320
Yeesh, those guys don't mess around.
Are our weapons proving effective?

rolled 28 = 28

>>16777384
The phaser and blaster fire manages to drop a Sandman after one or two shots. After a minute of fire, in which one of the UNIT troops dies as well, the Sandmen assault relents, the survivors scattering into the complex.

The team is requesting orders. The base has set up a jamming field, but your advanced sensor/comm suite is able to pierce it.

>>16777852
It doesn't really matter where the Sandmen run to, because as soon as the barrier is disabled it's all over.
Proceed towards the field generator, but stay alert for traps and/or ambushes.

rolled 9 = 9

>>16777915
The away team proceeds towards the field generators, fighting Sandmen along the way. The command to stay alert for traps proves to be a wise one, as the Delta Greens locate and disable several trip mines as the team penetrates the base's defenses. Unfortunately, they miss a remote-detonated floor panel and two of their number go down as the Sandmen strike again, with a hit and run attack that leaves another UNIT troop slain. However, his death was not in vain as the teams breach the doors to the interdict generator room...

One of the M.I.s reports that a team of three Sandmen attempted to escape through the rear hatch, but he has managed to subdue them.

rolled 83 = 83

As soon as the away team manages to reach the generator room, a large explosion rocks the base and contact is lost with them.

>>16778434
The base as a whole, and not just the generator room?
...Is the generator offline at least?

>>16778618
The base generator is VERY offline.

The building was rocked by the explosion, but it has not fallen/imploded. It's difficult to tell the extent of the damage from visual reports by the M.I. overwatch.

>>16778671
Did the explosion come from within or without?
Like was it a trap by the Sandmen that went too far, or is the facility now under attack?

>>16778671
I guess the building should be susceptible to our scanners right?
Can we lock on to the vital signatures of our remaining troops and beam them up?

>>16779148
Within. Probably a Sandman trap of some sort.

>>16779165
You can. Assuming that's what you do, the majority of your team survived thanks to their heavy armor. However four Delta Greens, along with Colonel-Commissar Gaunt, weren't so lucky.

You manage to beam the rest aboard your ship for treatment.

The sensors also detect about six surviving Sandmen buried within the rubble of basement level 3, and twelve more in the complex proper. Scanners show the blast collapsed most of sub level 3, and some of 4 and 2.

>>16779341
Damn, getting Gaunt replaced with another version of him is going to take up a lot of our requisition funding.

Alright, beam up the Sandmen into the Containment Bay on the Storm.

What parts of the base are still intact? Do our sensors detect any anomalies that could be an Etoile?

>>16779341
You said Gaunt's wound wasn't fatal. He should have been stabilized immediately and beamed out the moment the interdiction fields went down.

Cleanse and purify.

>>16779404
The interdiction field went down when the explosion occurred, because the generator was rigged to blow.
So there wouldn't have been time to beam him out.

>>16779385
The Sandmen are successfully teleported to the containment bays. Your sensors do not detect any Etoile within the building.

With the exception of most of sub level 3 and some of sub level 4 and 2, the base is intact. The explosion took out the interdiction field generator and the laboratories on level 3, the containment prison on level 2, and the backup data storage on level 4.

>>16779404
The blast is what took out the generators.

Honestly, I was surprised you didn't order him to fall back considering his earlier injury.

>>16779449
>I was surprised you didn't order him to fall back considering his earlier injury
Honestly, I had to step out when the injury occurred, and I'm very disappointed in the other players.

Scan the base for other life signs. If the containment prison was destroyed, there's a chance that something else could have escaped from holding.

Also, what's going on with the local police? Are they about to move in on the Mulder Building? Are the security measures to prevent them from accessing the base itself still operational?

>>16779551
The local police are still quite happy to not get involved with this. That being said, you're pretty sure you don't have too much time before someone shows up that WOULD be happy to get involved.

If there was anything living in the containment prison, it is now dead. The only life signs were the Sandmen and troops you beamed up.

>>16779551
In addition, were we able to recover any of those Sandmen weapons? They look like they fire quantum singularities.
We'll want them analyzed and reverse-engineered.

Levels 2, 3, and 4 are destroyed. What about primary power and the main computer? Are they still intact?

>>16779642
If the main computer and primary power are still up, will the security systems hold to keep anyone from snooping around and penetrating the base defenses?

If at all possible, I don't want to lose this base.

>>16779656
Yes, you've recovered a few of them.

>>16779669
No, they most likely will not.

>>16779709
Okay. CAN we restore the mundane security systems to the point where they can hold off intruders while we transit back to Sector HQ, and a recovery team is able to come back here and do the repairs needed to fix the defenses and mind-wipe any intruders?

>>16779759
Yes, that should be possible.

Okay, I'm back. Whats going on in here?
... Crap.
Can we restore the dead with the transporter loophole that I mentioned earlier? If not, can we atleast program their brain scans into a hologram?

>>16779551
I assumed that should we attempt to leave, we would run into the majority of the enemy forces, since they understandably wouldn't want us coming back later for a second wave.

>>16779831
Nope. Sorry. Access to technological or magical resurrection is, for the time being, unavailable.

>>16779781
Alright, do the necessary repairs, everyone on the away team is to stay alert for possible other threats. They are to consider this a hostile landing zone for the duration.

>>16779831
The transporter trace may not be enough, not without a matter stream to do the comparison against.

rolled 16 = 16

>>16779973
With no other troops being on station, the Mobile Infantry abandon their overwatch positions and advance into the building, leaving the cloaked Tosh to act as look out.

The three power-armored soldiers begin recovery operations.

Hmmm. I've been thinking about which canons we would find most useful to recruit from. If we were going for maximum cheesy brokenness, picking up a Culture GSV or GCU (or hell, even just one of their Minds or a Special Circumstances agent/drone pair) would definitely be the way to go. Who gives a shit about guns that shoot black holes when you can read someone's mind from the other side of the solar system, CHANGE that person's mind in whatever way you want, or tear a fucking hole between this universe and the next and blow everything to teensy tiny bits with the resultant gridfire?

Being a Marathon fan, I think having Durandal along for the ride in a fancy Jjaro spaceship would be awesome, although I'd be wary of his hijinks. Hell, the Security Officer has been pretty much confirmed to be someone who jumps between timelines and alternate realities to fix broken shit as of Marathon Infinity (insofar as anything about that damn game's plot could be called confirmed) so it'd be cool to run into him sometime.

Have we already done the transporter trace on the aurors?
Because we could probably use their magic, legimancy specifically, seeing as the sandmen appear to have blown up all the interesting bits.

After about half an hour, the Storm detects a group of black helicopters moving towards the base. They are outfitted with advanced stealth technology, but not nearly advanced enough to beat the Storm.

Their ETA is ten minutes.

The M.I.s have managed to bring some of the sentry guns and basic security measures online. One has managed to access the armory.

>>16780121
Egon is messing with that now, but they're not ready yet.

...Damn they haven't found the generator yet, and I'd hate to rush them seeing as there might still be traps around.

>>16780123
Will the MI be able to get the defenses up in time in before the choppers arrive?

Scan the helicopters. Have the Indefatigable lock on to a portion of each chopper's main driveshaft, and beam it into orbit.
I will not allow this base or its resources to fall into the hands of Canon forces.

rolled 96 = 96

>>16780173
They can certainly try.

You begin beaming parts of the helicopters into orbit, sending them crashing to the ground. After only a few minutes of this, the four helicopters that are left land and disgorge their troops about sixteen miles away from the base.

>>16780209
...Yeah that's completely subtle.
Would it have been possible to beam the fuel out of their tanks, forcing them to make an emergency landing?

>>16780209
The M.I. report that they have managed to bring the base's automated defenses online just a few seconds after you 'beam attack' the helicopters.

Another M.I. reports he has taken a cache of weapons from the armory, just in case, while the third reports he has found the mainframe and is using Holtz's access codes to open them up.

Orders?

>>16780227
Make sure the computer isn't rigged to blow and then access the files I guess.

>>16780209
What's their ETA at the Mulder Building?

I would prefer not to have to kill all of them...but if it's necessary to preserve our secrets, then they will all simply have to die. Or be forcibly recruited, and have their minds reconstructed to be useful TG soldiers, I suppose.

>>16780227
Do we still have any computer specialists from the SCP or UNIT troops with us?
Have them beam down and check the mainframe for boobytraps before attempting to access it.

>>16780256
Actually there's an idea.
Beam up the crew if they get too close.
They're probably working for some kind of shadow government so they might be open to the possibility of alternate worlds, and working to protect it for money.

>>16780274
Your specialists are currently injured and in medbay. Do you want the M.I. to access the mainframe?

>>16780256
Two hours.

>>16780356
Better play it safe and wait an hour to see if anyone's condition changes.

>>16780356
Wait an hour before attempting to access the mainframe to see if any specialists become available.

Most likely the Sandmen boobytrapped the mainframe to take Holtz's codes when accessed, and either beam them to a waiting Etoile or use them to reverse-hack the Oncoming Storm's computers.

Can the Storm scan the planet for Etoile signatures?

Actually is it possible to just sort of beam up the computers safely, to examine later at our leisure?

I think the next universe we recriut from should be Schlock Mercenary, specificaly Tagons Toughs. Anyone think this is a good idea?

>>16780484
Beyond our paygrade, likely.

>>16780421
I guess it would. My first reaction would that the reconstruction would erase the data, but if that were true, all their gadgets would be continually reset to blank when transporting.

>>16780409
Depends on where the Etoile are/how shielded their location is. You'd guess that this is logistically unfeasible.
If nothing else this quest is opening my eyes to how hilarious hax Trek-tech is.

>>16780503
But wouldn't transporting up the main computers bring down the automated defenses?
We can't just leave all of this equipment undefended.

>>16780503
Yeah in retrospect, it really should have been above our pay grade.
Hell, there's even been a song written on the subject: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bBD5yyT-s0

>>16780573
It would bring down some, but not all of them. Most of the sentry guns can function fine independently once activated.

Beaming up the computer should be a last second maneuver.
Like if the soldiers are less than fifteen minutes away and we still have no computer specialists ready to operate.

>>16780615
Alright, spend the next hour getting the sentry guns up and running. Once the independent base defenses prove enough to hold off intruders, we'll beam the main computer core up to the Oncoming Storm and keep it isolated from the ship's systems, and attach a battery. We'll then check if for traps, then activate it, and use Holtz's codes to check it for Etoile infection. If it's clean, we'll beam it back down and reconnect it to the base's systems.

>>16780607
As hax as Star Trek transporter technology is, it's still nothing compared to the dickery that Chaos can get up to.

>>16780644
That's true; with the EMH and the Inde's medbay, the UNIT and SCP computer specialists may be ready before we need to beam up the computers.

Is it wrong that I see Gaunt's death as kind of a mixed blessing?
Like he was definitely useful, but he also kind of almost restricted what allies we could get with 'heresy' this and 'xenos' that.

Who's alive so far, out of the SCPs, UNITs and DGs?

I'd say: Activate the base's defenses, contain and capture as many sandmen as possible, loot the base's advanced technology and computer storage, then gtfo and slag the rest from orbit (preferably in as narrow a beam as possible).

If we've lost more troops than we've captured Sandmen then we should've just slagged the damn site from orbit to begin with. :P

>>16780735
At the very least we've been knocked down a peg or two in terms of how powerful our team is.
I'm honestly not sure whether we'll get any funding at all after this. It's a shame, because there are some things we could get that'd reduce casualties significantly.

>>16780754
Survivors:
10/12 SCP troopers
10/12 UNIT troopers
8/12 Delta Greens
You captured 18 Sandmen.

>>16780500
Yeah, but when the boys upstairs get wind of the gravity of this shitstorm we /might/ get enough funding.

>>16780855
Their teraport technology is useful, and their powered fullerene suits are admittedly something we should look into getting.
But aside from some weapons and equipment from their universe, why would we get the Toughs?

>>16780855
>>16780824
Gaunt dead, and all other personnel alive, right?
In any case, now would be the time to loot what we can (especially advanced tech and base data) before the military arrive. From there, we can either fight them (this is likely a dumb idea as modern Earth military has air support and a sidewinder can level a building), or gtfo and burn anything left of the base from orbit.

>>16780869
I personally think a Warcraft 3 Paladin of at least level 6 would be a useful hero, for its resurrection ability, and its holy light (healing) ability.
For equipment choices, we should look into grabbing the mirror from Snow White. It's clairvoyant - that'd be damn useful.
For troop choices, I'd go with some all-purpose magic before grabbing anything else.

I'm thinking the base probably needs to disappear once we're done with grabbing the intel/whatever we need from it. If the DG guys are up to it, some blackops+trek teleporter hax could easily remove whatever's left. Hell, if it's staged to look like a terrorist attack (say, if the DG stole themselves a truck or something, threw a bunch of explosives in the back of it then rammed it into the base, teleporting out when convenient) then we might limit how much of what went on there got out, especially to the general public. And, of course, it would conveniently remove any evidence of multiverse shenanigans. Anyone talking about powersuits or government black choppers are clearly insane conspiracy theorists, right? And the higher-ups in the government would probably just be left with no clue what the fuck went on, and could chalk it up to aliens or whatever.

I am, of course, assuming that we give a shit about what people in this canon know.

>>16780945
I still feel as if we could use a technopath. Like even if none of the sandmen who aren't our troops can be cured, someone with the ability to manipulate technology could alter the sandmen's now synthetic minds and pretty much undo the conditioning that makes them loyal to the etoile and restricts free will.

>>16780965
There's a lot of equipment that will need to be beamed out. The cargo holds on the Relentless should be sufficient to handle everything, though.

Also, staging some kind of terrorist attack should be right up the Delta Green's alley.

There's still the problem of those black-ops boys two hours away.
I'm for forcible recruitment, and then proper programming back at Sector HQ before we use them. Of course, this might be considered a breach of certain ethical constraints.

>>16765698

A fanfic that pretty much exists to cross over as many Canons as possible into it's own?

If it exists as a universe, it's probably a gold mine in how to make multiple realities coexist in relative harmony, all things considered. Heck, it continually adds new bits of crossover almost monthly in realtime terms, to the point of having commonly published information for newly introduced entities from different dimensions, universes, or whatever.

Their version of Egon Spengler's actually pretty famous there- his research is the core of how spiritual (soul) energy is measured, as "Spengler Flux". If there's anyplace that'd be able to handle reality distortions by incorporation rather than elimination, that'd be where to look.

>>16781028
We might not even need 'programming'.
We could just tell them our mission, or a version of it they will understand, and see who's receptive.
If anyone turns us down, we can just beam them right back to their world, perhaps without even modifying their memories.
After all, who's going to believe them?

>>16780987
I still say something from the Culture, if that isn't too ridiculous overpowered and beyond our pay grade etc. for this quest. Perhaps an SC agent and drone pair, or hell, maybe just a drone? They'd presumably be good with technology, could easily hold their own in combat (presumably limited supply of antimatter and knife missiles, low-level effector, high speed and maneuverability and probably has some kind of field protecting itself) and they've been shown to be very intelligent if needs be.

>>16781055
The biggest problem with civilizations and Canons of that high of a tech level is that usually they're competitors to the Transpace Guard.
Look at the TSAB and the Combine, as well as the G-Man as examples.

>>16781052
For some reason I find the idea of teleporting one of them up, immediately stunning him unconscious with a phaser, then dropping them back into the lap of the squad with a note telling them to turn the fuck around and scrub their mission pinned to his front, to be absolutely hilarious.

>>16780987
I can't think of any technopaths that would be within our pay grade.

>>16781033
I really hope that this is what we're dealing with, but from what the G-Man told us, about sections of Canon being 'walled off' and said wall being breached, and about us needing to seriously modify our approach to deal with this threat, and of course that fucking Chaos warship, leads me to believe we're dealing with something much. Much. Worse.

>>16781080
Well, the way I see it the Combine is already fucking around with jumping between realities, whereas the Culture is very much a one-universe and indeed one-galaxy deal. In fact, they seem to be somewhat suspicious of groups that use their advanced tech to bugger off 'elsewhere' like the Sublimed. I dunno, it feels like a very big difference and one which we can exploit.

>>16781093
Well, that's another alternative.

"You will turn the fuck around right now and scrub this mission. You can't win against us, and we're busy with other problems. Our patience has its limits."

>>16781109
Not even one of these: http://aliens.wikia.com/wiki/Galvanic_Mechamorph

>>16781151
But then that makes TG the kinds of people that would make the Culture suspicious, wouldn't it? Considering that we live primarily in the Meta, and that we simply retreat to it when our operations in a given Canon are threatened.

>>16780869
Actually, I am mostly interested in getting our hands on their nanny-bags and that illegailly modified Cryo-kit that they have used to bring back their dead.

>>16781166
Maybe something a bit more professional?
Like, "There are forces that exist that are beyond the comprehension of even your masters. Turn back now, unless you wish to see them for yourselves."

>>16781198
Oh right! The nanny-bags! Yeah, that should be a major purchase, and considering how prevalent the technology is in the setting, shouldn't be too difficult to acquire. The modified cryokit on the other hand, probably not so much.

But yeah, with their nanny-bags and body reconstruction tanks, that could prevent a lot of deaths in our outfit.

>>16781247
I'd just go with
"Above your pay grade, turn back"
No need to provoke curiosity.

>>16781247
See, that's what they would be expecting. Something cryptic and threatening, something that sounds like it would be coming from some self-important shadow organization.

A message that's short, to the point, and uses their own lingo might work better.

>>16781286
Well yeah, but I was thinking any soldiers who were bold and/or curious enough to go forward anyone show enough spunk to be worth recruiting.

>>16781194
Meeeh, this distrust is less "these guys say they move between realities, they must be evil and/or up to something" and more "these guys tell us abso-fucking-lutely nothing about what actually happens when they Sublime, what it is they do, and what their motivations are and are therefore suspicious". If we give them a crash course in the Meta and the role of TG then I suspect this would alleviate much of this suspicion. Of course, this does beg the question of how we'd recruit a Culture drone at all in the first place, at the very least without the entirety of the notoriously open and public Culture learning about it and by extension TG and the Multiverse, which seems to have been described as a Bad Thing. Making very, very quiet contact with an SC ship and trying to convince us to join our side would be the best bet, but even then it could be a long shot.

>>16776693
Recruitable? Good, but dirt-poor people who'd accept anything?

>>We can recruit Heroes from Canons, but the more important and higher-ranked in a given Canon, the less likely we can recruit them.

I have a loophole for this. Look for dirt-poor "unimportant/unranked" people from other canons. I would say you got a lucky catch with Spike over there. There's a whole ton of decent, "poor" people that can be recruited.

>>16781315
See, part of the problem is that TG's job is to prevent a second round of the Crossover Wars from occurring. If that means killing people to accomplish our goals, so be it. A very Delta Green-ish mentality.

Letting the Culture find out about the Meta, and that it's possible to travel into it, would be tantamount to creating another Meta-faction. We already have to contend with the TSAB, who we're nominally working with to police timelines, the Combine, who are hostile, the G-Man and his mysterious employers, The Watchers, Hyper-Athens, the Closers, and all of the others.
One more self-important faction that believes that their society is the best and that all others should emulate them is not something we want getting out into the Meta. That's exactly the kind of thing we're trying to prevent.

Can we recruit Nasuverse servants?

>>16781397
I'm pretty sure this quest is actually set -during- the first crossover wars though.

Waiting for Op.

>>16781404
Doubtful, aren't they pretty much all kinds of broken?

>>16781416
We should find a way to recruit Cobray and his Dis Astranagant at this rate.

That or we "negotiate" with a certain shipping company that controls these (see picture). Ask me why if you're curious.

>>16781455
Bah. We don't need any more sources of wrecking shit and firepower. More intel, More science, More utility, and More psi-protection are useful at the moment.

>>16781455
I was thinking that as a replacement for Gaunt, we could get Balalaika and her mercenaries.

>>16781397
So while it would be advantageous to have Culture assets under our control, it's unlikely they would actually be under our control, and giving them a key to the Meta would probably be bad, right. I see. Well, there goes my fanboyish suggestion. I suppose if the shit hits the fan we could always rock up to them, let them know that the entirety of creation could be destroyed by some horrific event, and we could use their help to do a little something about it.

Oh well, anyone got any better suggestions for new recruits? If we've lost our magic users, some random Wardens of the White Council from the Dresdenverse could be useful, especially in combat.

>>16781453
I was considering the lesser, more minor servants like Atalanta, Robin Hood, Nursery Rhyme or Frankenstein.

>>16781266
Thats why they call ne Research Fag. I do my research. If we combine the teleporter scans, the regeneration vats, the cryo-kits, the nannie-bag, and a startrek replicator, we /should/ be able to bring someone back from the dead, Or at the very least clone them.
>>16781378
Exactly why I want us to aqure Tagons Toughs. In the current arc of the comic, they are doing shit jobs so they can purchase repairs for their ships. We can pay them by doing the repairs ourselves. Therefore, we can aquire them on the cheap

>>16781481
As good as they are in physical combat, what are they doing to do when we're up against eldritch abominations, Chaos, incursions by the Combine, and intelligently used wizards?

>>16781439
I've been here for a while, waiting for a clear decision on how to proceed.

So far it looks like you guys are going to salvage what you can and then blow the base, is that right?

>>16781455
Interesting... were you here during the first thread?

>>16781512
I'd rather spend our Troop requisition on more magic-using troops, or on more scientists of some kind.

We can use an equipment requisition for all the things you mentioned; we don't need the Toughs themselves.

>>16781477
>>wrecking shit and firepower

Cross-dimensional wrecking shit and firepower, to be exact. Valzacard is that, but you need the two extra ships to dock with Valguard/Valstork to get the combination.

>>16781512
Useful technology sounds good. I know absolutely fuck all about webcomics, but being able to reanimate the dead sounds neat.

>>16781527
No, this is someone who saw /m/ stuff in /tg/ quest and was piqued.

>>16781527
I prefer the original plan, which is to get the base defenses up and running so that we can transit back to Sector HQ and have an actual recovery team come back here and properly dismantle the base and move it, rather than our slap-dash recovery efforts.

If you want someone who would take ANYTHING, and yet fairly high-tier, go recruit Ryoma Nagare (New Getter Robo). He's racked up a massive debt from several places and resorts to racking up a huge tab and beating up yakuza sent to collect land payment.

Of course, you would need to take Getter Robo along with you for him to be useful.

On one hand, you guys got lucky with Spike because he fits the same recruitment parameters as this version of Ryoma.

>>16781549
If an offhand comment by Holtz is to be believed, Time Divers are apparently free agents with their own agendas. Likely they may be appointed by some faced of the Meta itself considering their backstories and the absurd amount of power they wield.

Considering we couldn't afford someone of Steve Rogers' level during our initial recruitment drive, they're near the top on the list of things we can't afford. The Ardyguns are close to that level as well if you want to bring the Valzacard into the picture.

rolled 78 = 78

>>16781549
Excellent.

>>16781527
Get the base defenses up and running.
Use the sensors to locate incoming soldiers.
Set an ambush on the Indefatigable with phasers or other stun weaponry - beam a soldier up, stun him, attach a note to him that reads "beyond your pay grade", and send him down.
Have Tosh cloak and be ready to intercept the incoming soldiers, in case they STILL keep coming after they see one of their dudes teleport out, then come back unconscious with a GTFO note attached.

Meanwhile, salvage what can be salvaged of the base's equipment and information. I think we need to consider this base scrapped.

>>16781580
You could approach "recruitment" to the Ardyguns in the form of a "business agreement" to their shipping business.

From how I understand it, there's a certain relative scale to the meta per character.

This might be pushing it, but is there a way to recruit Asakim? Or what about the Uruz squad from FMP?

>>16781557
I don't like that plan. There's no telling how long it will take to get a proper recovery team over here, and we've already got at least one black ops team moving in to start snooping around in things they really shouldn't be examining. We can only keep them away for so long, and while the suggestion of killing/kidnapping them would certainly delay any reaction, if they drop off the grid while working on something as strange as this you can better our Star Destroyer there will be an even bigger reaction from the powers that be around here. We really don't need to get into an escalating fight with these people.

How good is our teleporter tech? Could we just, maybe, grab the whole base and stuff it in a cargo hold somewhere and just leave a shell? If we do that and have Delta Green pull off their misdirecting 'terrorist' attack, then that will tie things up fairly neatly, if horribly clumsily at the same time.

>>16781591
After about an hour, the M.I. succeed in bringing as many of the base defenses as can be restored online. They have also collected most of the equipment the base had stored and sent it back to the ship.

At this point you have the following choices.

A.)Locking the base down and letting the clean up crew handle things, hoping the Canon forces won't manage to break in. This is risky, but might save the base.

or

B.)Transporting up the critical computer systems, which may shut down parts of the defenses but will greatly limit backlash should the Canon forces enter. This will heighten the chance entry can occur, but will lessen the damage if it happens.

Also to consider is if you're leaving the Base's spacetime sensors/communications somewhat intact.

>>16781598
It's a question of how to properly scrap this base.
There's a lot of equipment that it would be difficult to just beam out, given that we only have a regular transporter and not an industrial one.

To properly salvage this base we need to get the automated defenses online, get back to Sector HQ, and have a recover team sent here with the equipment needed to break down the base and construct another one elsewhere in this Canon.

>>16781607
Asakim is right out considering he's:
A-Functionally undying
B-Fixated on collecting artifacts that may be Meta-level contaminants themselves, and
C-An enormous goddamn psychopath

MITHRIL operatives may be more our level, but it's unlikely we could gain access to a Lambda Driver or other Black Tech. Even better if they can be equipped with TSFs instead of AS.

>>16781630
I vote we recover what we can, scuttle the rest, and hope for the best. This mission has gone FUBAR enough, no reason to take any more chances.

>>16781630
Any possibility of having Tosh and the DGs interdict the incoming soldiers? Tosh can cloak and the DGs have stealth armour.

It won't buy infinite time, of course. I vote we start salvaging anything high-tech or anything containing information, then prepare to scrap the base.

>>16781630
My vote is still for A. We've already lost a lot of time, and the contamination from the Event is only getting worse. We need all of our branch offices running to deal with this situation.

>>16781618
I think transporting a whole building might be a tad much.

In reference to the Uruz team, they are within your paygrade when you get vehicle additions, but not troop choices.

As for Asakim... I would... not.

I was thinking. When can we get R-9 series ships from R-Type? We could replace our TIEs entirely with those variants. Like, a composite force of War-Heads, Shooting Stars and Leos.

>>16781658
Tosh can intercept. Do you want him to use psionic explosion, which can stun them, or just to start shooting or what? Stun or lethal?

Do you really want to do the teleport up, stun, teleport down thing?

>>16781636
Don't all ships in startrek bigger then a shuttle have cargo transporters, though?

>>16781650
TSFs are too huge and seemingly cumbersome compared to AS. We could get a bunch of M9D Falkes and make good use of their digiopticamo. Don't forget that AS are just slightly bigger than a Knightmare.

If you wanted TSFs we might as well just skip ahead and get GN-X II's at least, or GN-XIV's/Braves at the furthest.

>>16781664
>cannot into whole buildings
Yeah, thought as much. Well, I think it would be better to take out absolutely everything that you couldn't find in this canon. Letting ANY extra-canon tech or even knowledge fall into the hands of some shady government entity which sends out black choppers is probably a Bad Idea in and of itself. Blackops misdirection shenanigans of our own is probably the best way to go. Hey, if we've got the time and resources to spare we could set it up to look like a foreign spy base or something? Like the Red Chinese intelligence services operated out of there, or something to that effect.

>>16781664
I don't want any more smashy/shooty/destructy power for now. I still want more utility, more science!, and more psi-resistance. Anything to bring people back from the dead would be good.

To the fanboys out there: Can you find something to fan-wank over that could, say, help us find out whether a base has been subverted by nanites? Or to make our actions less suspicious to Canon forces? Or perhaps to find people that would be interested in joining our crew, without revealing what we actually are?
A good 60% of our work is finding out WHAT's going wrong in a given world, 30% is blowing it up, and 10% is looting the remains.

>>16781681
No, do not intercept yet.

And no, do not attempt the beam-up/beam-down thing. That would only encourage them to bring a bigger response team.

>>16781682
Yes, but cargo transporters still can't transport entire buildings, or even entire floors and sections of a base.

>>16781681
If we do teleport the mook up, be shure to activate that part of the teleporter that renders any weapons teloported inert

>>16781724
>>psi-resistance

Would be fucking godsend to have Millefuelle (Galaxy Angel) or Mihoshi Kuramitsu on the team.

On a side note, Crowe Broust from SRW Z would probably be more pliable to recruitment because of LOL MASSIVE DEBT.

>>16781786
I am highly encouraged that people in this quest are familiar with SRW Z.

>>16781724
The damn ironic thing is a Culture ship-of-the-line, a GCU, would be an excellent resource for pretty much all of these things (they have nanites of their own, and it's been said that the biggest problem they tend to have with surveillance over even slightly less powerful civs was actually Brownian motion suffered by their bugs) but they've been kinda ruled out to a degree. I suppose we could always pop into their universe, leave a message on the Culture equivalent of clist asking for a volunteer ship for some fun adventures then see if any Eccentric ships take the bait. The reason I thought of them in the first place is that even your average, one-of-trillions Culture citizen has an insane amount of power and basically magical tech in their control.

>>16781724
The nanny-bags and reconstruction tanks, as well as the newly revealed RED-2, from the Schlock Mercenary Canon would help us minimize casualties.

As for psionic resistance, there are certain items from the Star Wars Canon, especially Knights of the Old Republic, that can aid in resisting mind-control effects.
Magic is a little harder to defend against; perhaps an item enchanted with an anti-magic field?

rolled 27 = 27

You transport the computers and what critical systems you can into the cargo bays of the Relentless. This will prevent the Canon forces from being able to access too much of TG's technology and will minimize the risk of breach.

You do not destroy the base, however, leaving its security systems intact.

The base is as locked down as you can make it.

What now?

>>16781817
Dresdenverse Wardens are basically badass magic wizardkillers and after Turn Coat they've VERY careful about making sure their people aren't mind controlled any more. Again, though, I'm having a hard time figuring out how to actually recruit them. I guess if we showed some of them proof that there were magic-users elsewhere who were breaking the Laws of Magic they'd be all over that shit, and we could conveniently lead them into a situation where we could recruit a squad of them.

>>16781829
OP, what are our options?

>>16781806
I am just a lurker. I also gave Zeonquest the Zakraider concept.

>>16781829
Can we produce any amount of VX, Sarin, or some other nerve gas, and sprinkle some amounts on the ground floor of the Mulder Building?
We told the locals it was a nerve gas leak; what will the black ops team do when they're faced with traces of nerve gas?
It should give us time to have a real clean-up crew come here and move or repair the base.

>>16781871
Grab everyone and leave I guess. Unless you guys think of something else.

>>16781907
Sure.

>>16781909
Assuming the Canon forces break into the building. What are they likely to loot/learn/steal?

I'm thinking our options are "Beam out and leave", or "Beam out, burn the building into slag from orbit, and leave".

It's 2am at the moment. probably a good time to wrap the quest up.

>>16781829
Withdraw to HQ and regroup, I guess. We might want to invest in spy sats for situations like this.

>>16781923
That's what I'm trying to do.

At this point they'll likely learn it was an unnamed new faction with access to extremely high tech. It is unlikely they will be able to reverse engineer much, if anything, from what you left behind.

>>16781919
Do it. Then transit back to Sector HQ and have Holtz send a recovery team with backup immediately back here. The deception and automated defenses will only last so long.

>>16781907
Good plan. Some chemical agents replicated up, followed by going back to base, and telling Holtz what happened.
"The base was taken by canon forces, which converted the base staff. We lost 4 DGs, 3 UNITs*, 2 SCPs, Gaunt, and the Aurors lost their magic ability in the recovery mission.
*Mouse is a UNIT soldier
While the base defenses are online, and we've applied nerve gas as a cover story, we'll need a recovery team sent to the base before even more canon forces show up to pick over the remains."

>>16781940
>spy sats
Fuck, why didn't we think of this before? Straight up observation sats, plus a general means of breaking into existing surveillance networks through hacking and so on, would be incredibly useful when we first show up.

Hell, do we have a SigInt group yet? It would be very, very useful to tap into the chatter of groups already existing in the canon to identify the problems that need fixing by us.

>>16782032
That's a good idea. If we get any funding at all from this mission, we should look into it.

>>16781806
Aaaah crap we're gonna have to fight Asakim/Chimera Corps/Edel Bernal/Gaioh down the line now,.

>>16782032
Because we already do this. It's one of the first things we do when we get to a new planet, is to search for satellites and hack into their version of the Internet for information.
And that we have spaceships with sensors equal to any observation satellite we have access to.

The problem with the Sandmen was that they were undetectable by even the Storm's upgraded sensors, and needed close examination by the Indefatigable's medical scanners to identify the hostile nanites.

>>16782046
No, we are not wasting funding on things that we don't need, when we need to be concentrating on protection for our teams and equipment that will help us with our investigations.

>>16782077
If we get the chance, we should get some stuff from the Schlock Mercenary universe.

I think that'll cover it for today. I'll start a new thread with you guys returning to base next time.

Hope you all had fun!

>>16782103
They seem to have some neat-o tech.
A clairvoyant item could also be useful.
Who were those heroes that could offer the group psi-protection? They'll be damn helpful if we're up against Chaos.

>>16782103
That's what I meant by 'protection for our teams'.
Getting nanny-bags, cryokits, maybe some of their medical nanites, and RED-2; being able to survive a headshot is pretty up there in terms of protection.
The power armor we already have is good enough for now, they're just more bulky than the fullerene armor, and doesn't have the flight capability.

>>16782128
When should we expect to see it?
6PM EST today?

>>16782138

>>clairvoyant

Dunno anyone else who has really fine control or very detailed visions other than Oriko.

Try recruiting Oriko Mikuni from Oriko Magica for this.

>>16782138
>>psi protection

Try Asuna from Negima.

>>16782157
Unless something comes up, yeah.

>>16782225
Not that useful, considering that it's mostly a personal ability, and she would need to be with the team that needs the protection.

Better if we can get psi-dampening circuits from X-COM, possibly post-Apocalypse.

>>16782334
Can we recruit Oriko?